Both are caused by viruses, and both are highly contagious. They are both respiratory diseases, spread on the breath and hands as well as, to some extent, via surfaces. It was a veritable tidal wave of death – the worst since the Black Death of the 14th-century – and possibly in all of human history.įlu and COVID-19 are different diseases, but they have certain things in common.
The vast majority of the deaths occurred in the 13 weeks between mid-September and mid-December 1918. That receded towards the end of the year, only to be reprised in the early months of 1919 by a third and final wave that was intermediate in severity between the other two. A relatively mild wave in the early months of 1918 was followed by a far more lethal second wave that erupted in late August. The 1918 flu pandemic claimed at least 50 million lives, or 2.5 per cent of the global population, according to current estimates.
We should hope against hope that this one isn’t as bad, but the 1918 flu had momentous long-term consequences – not least for the way countries deliver healthcare. As the world grapples with a global health emergency that is COVID-19, many are drawing parallels with a pandemic of another infectious disease – influenza – that took the world by storm just over 100 years ago.
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